P is for Playdate H/R + Jack
P is for Playdate
Spencer looked throughout the kitchen, somewhat frantic for the eccentric genius. Cupboard doors opened and shut, drawers were pulled wide then left slightly ajar, the pantry was opened, closed, and opened again, even the refrigerator and freezer had been gone through before Aaron was roused from the living room.
He hated to admit it, but the room looked like he should count the silverware before his lover left.
As Aaron approached he could see his younger lover still in a tizzy looking for something and clearly not finding it. He took up his coffee mug, “Spencer, what are you looking for?”
“The bread, Jack’s play-date is in half an hour and I have to make sandwiches! You promised Marianne that you wouldn’t get them an unhealthy lunch and that we had this… we had half a loaf this morning and it was on the counter, but now it’s nowhere to be found. We’re out of the organic chocolate milk and carrot sticks, celery sticks and peanut butter we got yesterday… and I know none of us ate that within the past day.”
Aaron was too busy looking pleased and how cute Spencer looked all flushed and frustrated to really take into account the concerns and address them, and it really was a straight-forward answer…
“Spencer, relax, everything is going to be fine- it’s a play-date…” He started, about to explain away the mystery of the snacks when Spencer jumped in.
“The use of play-dates to establish social skills and proper group etiquette are quintessential at Jack’s age! I don’t want to turn Jack into some socially incompetent person because no one will be in a play date because we can’t follow simple instructions like Suzie has a gluten allergy or Mark isn’t supposed to have pizza… He already has it bad enough with half his friends not being allowed over because they’re parents are convinced gay is a transmittable disease!” With that, Aaron approached Spencer and pulled him into a hug, running circles on the small of Spencer’s back.
“Feel better now?” Aaron asked.
“Not really, I still don’t know what happened to that loaf of bread.”
“I already made the sandwiches and platter, they’re in the play room, the chocolate milk included, it’s in a bowl of ice to keep it cool and to keep them from running through the kitchen.” Aaron explained. “Spencer, there’s nothing wrong with Jack, he understands how to behave in a group-”
Aaron gave Spencer a squeeze, “And even if he didn’t, there’s nothing wrong with being an independent thinker. I happen to be very attached to that personality trait.”
Spencer’s head shot up straight, almost connecting in Aaron’s jaw, luckily the man counted on that reaction and had compensated.
There is a moment that the raw emotion gives Spencer away, that Aaron was flat on the mark, but that look quickly vanished, “Hmm, if we’re profiling each other- you made peanut butter and jelly, didn’t you?”
Aaron nodded, “What’s wrong with the classics?” He smiled.
“Jeanine isn’t supposed to have jelly, it makes her hyper, and the carpet is light colored and you used grape because that’s more traditional than strawberry and you’re always more partial to grape. That’s why I was going to make up grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup to go with the granola mix, carrots, celery and peanut-butter. That and celery and peanut butter and PB and J sandwiches are redundant.”
“Well it’s a good thing there’s a back-up loaf in the bread caddy.” Aaron smiles victoriously, pushing open the caddy to reveal an empty bin.
Spencer crossed his arms, “I have an IQ of 187 and you don’t think I checked there first for the loaf of bread…? I’ll run to the store, did we need anything else that you can think of?”
“Well, we could be the cool parents and get a big bag of M & M’s for them to also munch on, but only if you think that’s not going to upset the PTA too much.” Aaron wriggles his brows suggesting that Spencer live a little.
He crossed his arms, “If we’re going that route, I’m breaking out the pixie-stix and skittles too.” He smiled successfully turning over his mood.
“Good, because after the kids eat those PB and J sandwiches, I won’t want them back in my house for at least a month.”
“I’ll be back soon, can you dig out the dinosaur sandwich-cutter? I saw it in the back of the junk-drawer.”
“Show off.” Aaron smiled, stealing a kiss before letting Spencer wiggle free and get the car keys.
As Spencer left the kitchen, Jack raced in, skidding to a halt with a plastic T-Rex in his grasp.
“Hey buddy, what’s the hurry?” Aaron said, spotting the six year old.
“I can’t find my allosaurus anywhere!”
“Allosaurus…? Aren’t you holding it?” Aaron asked, Jack let out an exacerbated breath.
“Nuh-uh! This is a tyrannosaurus rex, they aren’t even from the same era, daddy!”
Aaron chuckles, “Did Spencer tell you about them?”
Jack nods vigorously. “And showed me in the dinopedia he gave me.”
“Then did you two put them away together last time you played?”
Jack nods, “Did you put them away by era or by type?” Aaron had his suspicions, then again, Spencer might have had Jack put them away by geography of Pangaea for all he knew, in which case he was hosed.
There was a long pause before Jack’s lips went taut as he thought of where it might be and then left to find it. Aaron picked up a large serving bowl that had dividers in it before following Jack to the play-room.
The boy pulled out a bin and pulled out the allosaurus victoriously. Ten minutes later, as Jack finished up explaining how an allosaurus and tyrannosaurus were different dinosaurs, now using the figurines to demonstrate, Spencer came home with an over-full brown paper bag.
“Aaron, Jack, I’m back…” He wondered to the play room, wondering if the silence meant the other kids had already arrived, then realized that would make it much louder, not quiet.
“Spencer!” Jack almost tackled Spencer as he crashed into his leg to hug him, it sent Spencer teetering, but he managed to not collapse, PT working like a charm.
“Jack, be careful.” Aaron admonished, taking the bag from Spencer. He pulled out a loaf of bread before spotting the remaining contents of the bag. He shot Spencer a look.
Under his breath, Aaron is sure he heard it, or at least read lips to catch a, ‘I want to be a cool dad…’ He rolls his eyes and takes tosses Spencer the bread.
“Why don’t you show Jack how to make grilled cheese and tomato soup, I’ll finish setting up in here.”
“Alright, come on Jack. I’ll tell you about how the spinosaurus and how it used the spines on its back to warm up- it’s an exotherm.”
“What’s that mean?” The boy’s eyes went large as saucers as Spencer described warm and cold-blooded dinosaurs with the boy. Aaron began sifting through the bag of junk food. M & M’s, Starbursts, Skittles, Pixie Stix, Gummy Worms, and Jolly Ranchers made it look more like a Halloween haul versus a fun snack. Aaron poured out some M & M’s into one partition, Gummy Worms in another, and Skittles in the third. He didn’t really want the wrappers or the powdery or sticky mess the others might leave. Though, for good measure he plowed down two pixie stixs to get him through the next two hours. He put the rest of the candy back into the bag and brought it to the kitchen pantry, putting it up high as the doorbell rang.
Spencer gave him a look before going to the door to answer with Jack. When he did, he was greeted by two little boys and one little girl and one of their moms. “Hi Marianne, glad you could all make it, come on in.”
He stepped out of the doorway to let them in, the kids raced toward the playroom as Jack mentioned his new dinosaur book and latest board game- Pictureka, a game which Aaron had specifically banned Spencer from playing.
“Can I get you some coffee?” Spencer asked as Marianne stepped inside too.
“Please, I’ve been up since 4, I had to work on a presentation for work.” She let out a slight laugh, knowing that the two parents would understand that some jobs required more hours than the 9 to 5 reflected on her paycheck. She went into the kitchen, and Spencer was certain it was to snoop on the snacks to either approve or disapprove, and he realized suddenly why Aaron had moved everything upstairs already.
“I’m just finishing up the grilled cheese now.” He said, making gestures to offer her one, she declined.
Aaron stirred the soup as Spencer got down a coffee cup and poured some of the brew for her.
The exchange was brief, the woman’s phone vibrated before she looked at it and let out an exaggerated sigh, she opened the flip phone and put it to her ear, “Michael, it’s a Saturday afternoon, what could you seriously need from me?”
Several uh-huhs and are you kidding mes were exchanged and by two minutes in, the phone was closed. There is a look that passes between the adults, and they all know exactly what that call was. “Do you mind if I head out? I’ll be back in two hours…?”
Aaron nodded, “That’s fine, worse comes to worst, we have enough macaroni and cheese to keep them until after dinner.”
“I appreciate it. If it comes to that I’ll get Sharon to pick them up though. Thanks for the coffee, and it was good seeing you again Spencer, we missed you at parent-teacher night.”
Spencer waved and smiled awkwardly as they walk her to the door, when it shuts, he rolls his eyes. “I am not joining the PTA.”
“That makes two of us.” Aaron smiled, “I’ll go check on the kids and make sure they’re at least pretending to eat some veggies.”
Spencer nods, “You aren’t mad I didn’t go to that are you?”
Aaron shook his head, “I get what you were trying to do… but for the record, I’m not ashamed of this, what we have between us, and I don’t care who else knows about it. Anyone who would begrudge Jack for it shouldn’t be in his life anyway.”
The look that passes between the two is a look deferred as Aaron eyes the steps to the play room before heading up there to peek his head in.
Spencer takes the time to pop in a Firefly DVD before turning the set on. Soon, Aaron reappears, holding an offering of popcorn and two cans of soda.
An eyebrow shifts up, “We do have M & M’s you know…” Spencer suggests, and Aaron nods before going into the kitchen and retrieving some of the stash. While the kids played upstairs, the couple enjoyed a relaxing Saturday for one episode. The two went back upstairs to check on the four kids to find them getting into a heated debate about what dinosaur would win in any given fight.
Jack firmly upheld that most of the matches were doomed thanks to the extinction of the different species. He did agree that a team of deinonychus would be able to take a carcharodontosaurus, which was a cousin of the allosaurus.
Just as Spencer looked over to see how Suzie would be faring the young girl let out a, “A liopleurodon would beat a pliosaurus.”
“What about a liopleurodon versus a megalodon?”
Spencer looked to Aaron and the two decided to head outside to let the children go through the dinosaur book and figures to come up with other versus modes. Once outside, Aaron turned to his lover, “Where did you even find those…?”
“Online, actually.”
“Whatever happened to the stegosaurus, T-Rex, and triceratops?” Aaron shook his head.
“Didn’t you hear? They went extinct.” Spencer smiled victoriously, “I think it happened around the Jurassic era- the movie franchise made lots of kids interested in other dinosaurs. If you’d like we can review it.”
“I think we should get them the grilled cheese and soup before then, otherwise we’ll have a pack of something equally vicious and destructive on our hands.”
“Hm, yes, hungry and cranky six year olds does seem about on par, and I have a bum leg, I’d be the evolutionary weak-link. You can’t just out-think a force of nature.”
“So true, especially saying they’d want to hear you talk about the dinosaurs.” Aaron laughed.
By four, the play date came to a close, two hours longer than it was expected to run, Marianne arriving with a frazzled look on her face and ink smudges on her right hand along the side of her hand below her pinky. Apparently the report she had worked on that morning was completed now, though Spencer didn’t comment on it.
“Next week is Byron’s birthday party, it’s at Friendly’s, kids and parents are going. You should come, but if you’re at work, let me know, I’ll pick up Jack.”
“Thanks, we’ll try to make it. How old is Byron going to be?”
“He’ll turn 7, he’s one of the older kids in the group, he’s on the soccer team with Jack.” She explains, assuring they have the connection in mind. “It’s at 1. My two are going, so even if you both can’t make it, well, I already said that, anyway, I have to get back and work on dinner. Thanks for hosting.”
“No problem.” Spencer says with a large smile, his face much more relaxed now that it was over.
“Sara’s hosting next week, and the week after Byron’s party I’ll host. I’ll call, keep in touch, oh, I can tell you about the PTA meeting too if you’d like. Alright.” She claps her hands and yells upstairs to the three kids she had transported earlier, “Suzie, Sammy, Mark, come on kids, it’s time to go! Say bye to Jack! Don’t forget to thank him for hosting!”
There is a new wave of commotion, more sizable than the earlier conversation of dinosaur face-off, and by time they left, the playroom was trashed, Jack was exhausted and crashed from his sugar-high, Aaron began to pick up some of the toys and the food while Spencer ushered Jack downstairs and to the couch, popping in Toy Story 2 on the DVD player.
“Did you have a good time?” Spencer asked once Jack was settled, the boy nodded, frowning from his own tiredness. “Conked out, huh?”
He nodded again.
“Well, after this, we’ll have dinner and then we can work on a puzzle for a while, how does that sound?”
Jack nodded looking at Spencer expecting him to understand his agreement to the plan. Spencer can’t help but think how much Jack takes after his dad and how adorable it is. “Then we have a game-plan, good. I’m going to help your dad pick up some and then I’ll make dinner. What vegetable do you want?”
“Broccoli and cheese?” He asks, hopeful in his selection.
“We have that, if that’s what you’ll eat.”
There is another nod in agreement, and Spencer leaves Jack to watch the movie and check in with Aaron.
Fin.